Jon Pylypchuk, formerly a founding member of Manitoba's The Royal Art Lodge cooperative (1996-2008), is known for his sculptures of puppet-like creatures crafted from old clothes, stuffed toys, wood, and other refuse, sometimes given diorama-like installations that resemble miniature shantytowns. His mixed-media collages and works on paper display a similarly scavenged, folkloric aesthetic. Stand-ins for the dark side of the human condition (including violence, war, illness, sexual perversity, and incidental catastrophes like car crashes), his underdog figures are nonetheless presented with humor and optimism.